BIZET
Alexander César Leopold Bizet (known as Georges) was born at Paris on 25th October 1838; died 3rd June, 1875. The son of a singing-master, he entered the Conservatoire at the age of nine years; and at the early age of nineteen gained the Grand Prix de Rome, and went to Italy to study. On returning to France, Bizet began to write operas, the first of which Pêcheurs de Perles was produced at the Théâtre Lyrique in 1863. It was but coldly received, as were also La Jolie Fille de Perth (1867), Djamileh (1872) and L'Arlésienne, in spite of their unusual merits. In 1875 Carmen was produced at the Opera Comique. This masterpiece quickly gained for Bizet world-wide fame, and placed him in the first rank of French composers. The Parisians, however, received the opera coldly; and it was not until eight years later, when it had been appraised everywhere else that they at last recognised its extraordinary charm and genius. Carmen was the last work of Bizet; for, three months after its first production, just as success was within his grasp, the gifted composer was seized with sudden illness and died.